Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory

Autor/inn/en	Rusli, Yazmin Ahmad; Montgomery, James W.
Titel	Children's Comprehension of Object Relative Sentences: It's Extant Language Knowledge That Matters, Not Domain-General Working Memory
Quelle	In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60 (2017) 10, S.2865-2878 (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1092-4388
DOI	10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-16-0422
Schlagwörter	Children; Reading Comprehension; Sentences; Lexicology; Short Term Memory; Predictor Variables; Hypothesis Testing; Knowledge Level; Task Analysis; Pictorial Stimuli; Priming; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Language Acquisition + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Child; Kind; Kinder; Leseverstehen; Sentence analysis; Satzanalyse; Lexikologie; Kurzzeitgedächtnis; Prädiktor; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Wissensbasis; Aufgabenanalyse; Fantasieanregung; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb
Abstract	Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether extant language (lexical) knowledge or domain-general working memory is the better predictor of comprehension of object relative sentences for children with typical development. We hypothesized that extant language knowledge, not domain-general working memory, is the better predictor. Method: Fifty-three children (ages 9-11 years) completed a word-level verbal working-memory task, indexing extant language (lexical) knowledge; an analog nonverbal working-memory task, representing domain-general working memory; and a hybrid sentence comprehension task incorporating elements of both agent selection and cross-modal picture-priming paradigms. Images of the agent and patient were displayed at the syntactic gap in the object relative sentences, and the children were asked to select the agent of the sentence. Results: Results of general linear modeling revealed that extant language knowledge accounted for a unique 21.3% of variance in the children's object relative sentence comprehension over and above age (8.3%). Domain-general working memory accounted for a nonsignificant 1.6% of variance. Conclusions: We interpret the results to suggest that extant language knowledge and not domain-general working memory is a critically important contributor to children's object relative sentence comprehension. Results support a connectionist view of the association between working memory and object relative sentence comprehension. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01